


You Can Figure It Out

by she_is_rysn



Series: A Balcony in Urithiru [7]
Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Adolin gets some alone time, F/M, Kholin Family Dynamics, relationships are hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-27 20:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20954504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/she_is_rysn/pseuds/she_is_rysn
Summary: After a day apart, Kaladin and Shallan have some catching up to do. Adolin spends a morning working out and talking to his sword. Dalinar and Kaladin are still having a little trouble forgetting that they kissed that one time.





	1. The Middle of the Night

**Author's Note:**

> If you're just tuning in, Kaladin and Shallan have deep deep feelings for each other and have made out a lot. Adolin now knows about this and it's giving him a lot of complicated feelings.
> 
> There is a balcony on Urithiru where Shallan & Kaladin have gone for secret meetings & such, and Adolin finds it by accident as well. Adolin has now both summoned his Shardblade at Shallan and punched Kaladin in the face, neither of which he feels great about.
> 
> Additionally, in this AU it turns out that you can take someone's Stormlight by kissing them on the mouth. Kaladin and Shallan figured this out obviously, and they told Dalinar (Jasnah too, but that's less important for these chapters).
> 
> The evening before this story picks up, Shallan has run into Adolin after getting suuuper duper wasted with Palona and her friend Yoya. They reunite in the street and have a sweet, long, weird kiss.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After his search for Teft, Kaladin comes to a decision. Renarin receives a late night visit

Adolin | Kaladin

“We seem to have lost our guests, Yoya,” a voice said from very close by. 

Adolin broke from the kiss to see Palona and Yoya standing so near he could see the wine stains on their lips. 

“How clumsy of us!” Yoya tutted with disappointment. “I was going to pick up choutas on the way, Ganchita, and there would have only been us to eat them.” 

Food.

Adolin realized he hadn’t eaten since before boarding the Oathgate platform that morning. It was a weird pivot from the swirl of uncertainty that lived between his lips and Shallan’s, but he was immediately, distractingly hungry. To his surprise, even Shallan seemed enticed by the offer.

“Come along, young ones,” Palona prodded, taking Shallan by the arm. Reluctantly, Adolin let his hand fall from the soft slope of Shallan’s neck. “We have the whole night still. Let’s get some snacks.”

******

“I am glad to find you,” Rock said as they walked away from the eighth tavern they’d tried without any sign of Teft. Most people didn’t recognize the description they gave, and those few who knew Teft hadn’t seen him. 

“Bridge Four has been missing you, Kaladin.” Rock spoke gently, and Kaladin felt the deep rumble of his words as much as he heard them. It was decidedly worse than booming accusations of being an airsick lowlander.

Kaladin waited to see if there was more, but apparently that was all Rock had to say on the subject. They turned silently into the next tavern, hoping for better results.

******

Renarin opened the door of his room before Adolin could knock. 

“Come in, come in,” he squinted, beckoning his brother inside. Adolin followed, shutting the door softly behind him. 

Renarin stumbled back into bed, mumbling something Adolin couldn’t understand.

“Come on, get in,” Renarin repeated insistently, smacking the space beside him on the bed. Adolin shrugged off his coat and shoes, climbing in carefully beside his brother. It was tricky, as the bed wasn’t really meant to hold two people. 

Renarin mumbled something like, “I’ll do the wine too,” placing a hand on Adolin’s wrist. His form glowed as he pulled in Stormlight from somewhere, and the moment was quickly followed by relief as pain disappeared from Adolin’s hand, the throbbing in his head dulled to perfect stillness. 

“Thank yo—“ Adolin began, but Renarin had already turned away. 

“Tomorrow,” Renarin commanded. “Go to sleep. Try not to touch me please.”

So Adolin did.

******

Kaladin and Rock finally found Teft at dawn’s light, passed out and coatless in a firemoss den.

Kaladin was dismayed to find that he was grateful for the distraction of looking for Teft and getting him care, grateful that someone else’s delinquency eclipsed his own. It was troubling, and it was wrong. 

Something needed to change. He couldn’t keep disappearing from Bridge Four. These were his men — his...people. Just because he and Shallan had opened the door to a world together didn’t mean he should have _ gone _. He had responsibilities. He had duties. 

His first responsibility was to report to Dalinar. 


	2. The Wrong Storming Scroll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaladin visits Dalinar to make a report, and it's very early in the morning.

Kaladin | Dalinar

Kaladin wished the corridor leading to Dalinar and Navani’s rooms wasn’t so long and straight. You could always see who was on duty way before you were close enough to say anything, which made for 30 seconds of either awkwardly trying to not engage, or awkwardly making small talk at an inappropriate volume. 

“Morning,” Kaladin muttered to the guard as he finally approached a respectable distance. He recognized the man as a member of Bridge 13. 

“Morning captain,” came the crisp reply. 

“Dalinar’s not expecting me,” Kaladin explained, “Are you supposed to announce me, or…?”

The guard chuckled. “Sir, I think it’s all right. Other Radiants just barge in, so you’re already ahead of the game.”

Before he could knock, Navani pushed out of the room with a scroll tucked under one arm. Kaladin overreacted, Lashing himself back a few feet. Storms, he was nervous. Why?

“Good morning!” Navani greeted Kaladin as if it were the most natural thing. As usual, her hair and makeup were done elaborately, and Kaladin wondered for the first time when she had to wake up in order to achieve the effect. “Dalinar,” she called through the shutting door, “Company.”

******

Based on the mischievous tone in Navani’s voice, Dalinar fully expected his niece to come flying through the door again with fresh grievances about her ward. It was sort of a nice surprise to greet the bridgeman instead, even though the subject matter was probably still the same. 

“Sorry to bother you so early, sir--” Kaladin apologized before he was fully in the door, wearing a pained expression.

“Nonsense, captain,” Dalinar tried to set the young man at ease. “I know you wouldn’t come unless it was important. What do you need?”

Dalinar didn’t think Kaladin had ever been in his bedchamber before, at least since the wedding. The upheaval of settling into Urithiru meant everyone had been everywhere at some point or another, but he was suddenly aware that it was different this time. 

The bridgeman hesitated by the door, as if there were some invisible threshold he was forbidden to cross. This in itself wasn’t terribly unusual, since as a soldier and guard Kaladin was accustomed to being on the perimeters, but there was a tentative air to the man which suited him poorly. 

“Adolin knows, sir,” Kaladin blurted. “About Shallan and me. And...it’s hard to explain, but he has suspicions about the Stormlight discovery.” At this, the young man’s face flushed deeply. “We were...I...we weren’t as careful as we should have been, sir.”

Storms. 

Dalinar wasn’t exactly  _ opposed _ to Adolin knowing about this new fact of Stormlight, but the fewer people who knew, the better. What had Stormblessed and Shallan done?

“I see,” Dalinar finally responded, deciding not to be curious about details. The romance bit was not his problem. “So, you told my son about you and—”

“Yes, sir,” Kaladin interrupted. “Well, Shallan did. I’d rather not go into it. I don’t even know if --” the young man balled both hands into fists, releasing them instantly, “it’s not important. But I felt the obligation to let you know, about...that.”

******

Dalinar’s coat hung open over his shirt, his feet bare on the stone floor of his bedroom. Kaladin had seen him in full Plate and full uniform of course, bloody from battle and weary from politics, but never just...living. The sight of him now, just on the other side of being fully dressed, filled Kaladin with a tenderness that he wasn’t expecting.

“I suppose that means we need to invent some kind of explanation?” Dalinar wondered. “Isn’t that Shallan’s specialty? Did she suggest anything?”

Kaladin nearly laughed out loud. How had he gone from being caught in a midnight tryst with Shallan to being a known associate? It was annoying that Dalinar assumed he was spending more time with Shallan than he actually was.

“Like I said, sir, it’s complicated,” Kaladin repeated. “I had some...one-on-one time with Adolin recently, but I haven’t seen Shallan since the meeting yesterday morning, so we haven’t talked about it yet.” 

Dalinar met Kaladin’s eyes, and the memory of kissing him the morning before rushed back, overwhelming him. It was so jarring to come back to the sensation that Kaladin stopped breathing.

“I appreciate you coming to me, captain.” Dalinar’s statement seemed to mean something in addition to what it meant.

For a moment, they stared at each other. And nobody said anything.

******

“I took the wrong storming scroll!” Navani called out as the door to their room flew open. “I thought I had the one with the heat transfer thingy but I took the one with the weight transfer other thingy. Hello again, captain. All right, I’ll see you later, Gemheart.”

Dalinar watched with some amazement as his wife entered the room, swapped her scrolls, nodded to the bridgeman and kissed him goodbye in one unbroken circuit of the bedroom. She didn’t clock the stare she had interrupted, either by design or by accident, and Dalinar found himself extremely grateful for a way out of that moment.

“Anyway, sir, that’s all,” Kaladin moved to leave, apparently feeling the same way. “I just wanted to let you know. I’ll talk to Shallan about what we might be able to do.”

“Good,” Dalinar responded. “Keep me posted.”

“Will do, sir.” Kaladin had his hand on the door, impatient to leave. 

“Dismissed, captain.”


	3. Act Casual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaladin makes an official visit to Sebarial's residence. Adolin decides how much to tell his brother. Shallan is very hungover and not expecting any visitors, because she's asleep.

Kaladin | Adolin | Shallan

Kaladin felt cold anxiety spreading through his chest as he approached the guard post leading to Sebarial’s residence. He was a Radiant, he probably didn’t even have to state his business if it came down to it, but Kaladin still needed to do something he was very, very bad at: act casual. 

“Morning, captain,” one of the guards called to him familiarly. Kaladin didn’t recognize the man, but maybe that was just the way of things in Sebarial’s house. 

“Good morning,” Kaladin returned, coming to an abrupt halt by the entrance. He didn’t realize he’d been walking so fast. 

“I’m here to—“

“Very good, Captain,” the same guard said obligingly, pulling open the door for him. 

And that was the end of the exchange. Kaladin walked through the door, which shut quietly behind him. 

“Wow, Kaladin,” Syl remarked. “Being a Radiant is really..._ opening doors _ for you.”

Kaladin glanced at Syl with his sternest look of disappointment. 

“Good one, Syl,” he deadpanned.

“Was it? Was it good?” Syl fluttered near his periphery. “Or is it bad? But you’re saying it’s good _ because _ it’s bad? You can use that one on Shallan, I don’t mind. I know she loves it.” Syl gave a satisfied wiggle as she rode along on Kaladin’s shoulder.

It wasn’t until Kaladin arrived in Sebarial’s enormous sitting room that he realized he had no idea where to go next. Storms, would Shallan even be here?

“Do you need directions, captain?” Kaladin started at the voice. It was only then that he noticed Palona curled on one of the many sofas, cradling a cup in her hands. 

_ I need to speak with Shallan. Is she here? _

That was all he had to say. That was the whole sentence. And he did not want to say it whatsoever. 

Because Palona might hear how it felt for Kaladin to say Shallan’s name, or she might see him blush at the thought of seeing her again, of admitting out loud the fact of their relationship, however benign the context. Storms, this thing with her made everything more complicated. Time for it to end. 

_ I need to speak with Shallan. Is she here? _

“I was wonder- I— is Shallan—“ 

Storms. 

“Ha!” Palona laughed.

Kaladin felt blood rush to his cheeks anyway. 

“She’s probably still sleeping, captain. But let’s see. Vesi, please go see if Shallan is available to speak with captain Kaladin.” Palona addressed a uniformed woman of the same age, reading in a chair on the other side of the room. Kaladin hadn’t noticed her either, somehow. 

Vesi put down her book and disappeared down a corridor. 

“Would you like some tea, captain?” Palona asked hospitably. 

******

Adolin woke up in...not his room, feeling much better than he had any right to. Renarin was facing away from him, combing back his hair in front of a small mirror. His Bridge 4 uniform was already buttoned up.

“How’d you do that to your hand?” he asked, still focused on his task.

“I punched Kaladin,” Adolin replied, swinging his legs off the side of the bed. The admission didn’t even feel bad this time. He just felt tired.

“You what?!” Renarin exclaimed, looking halfway backwards, still combing his hair. “Why?!” 

Adolin got ready to explain, but the sight of the Bridge 4 patch on Renarin’s shoulder brought instant regret. Kaladin was his commanding officer, his _ boss _ . Adolin knew that being a part of Bridge 4 gave Renarin a sense of belonging he’d never known before, and it suddenly felt extremely wrong to both confess to assaulting the man he admired so much _ and _ reveal that he was having an affair with Shallan. It would probably come out at some point, but it didn’t have to now.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Adolin said finally. “Bad spar.”

“You were sparring with your fists?” Renarin asked. “Do you do that?”

“Uh, yeah…” Adolin stretched to cover the lie, feigning a yawn. “We were trying something new, and it...didn’t go super well.” Adolin stood, shuffling to the chair where Renarin had carefully placed his discarded coat and shoes. 

“Oh.” Renarin placed his comb beside the mirror. As he gathered his belongings, Adolin felt the hundred things that passed through his brother’s mind unspoken, but couldn’t identify a single one.

“Thank you,” Adolin paused on his way out of the room, placing a gentle hand on Renarin’s shoulder. “I really appreciate it.” 

Renarin nodded without looking as Adolin left the room.

******

“Brightness,” someone was knocking on Shallan’s doorway, which felt like it existed behind her temples. She had drunk so much. So much. 

“What is it, Vesi?” Shallan mumbled at the doorway. The sound of the woman’s voice was about 40 times too loud. 

“You have a visitor. Captain Kaladin is here to speak with you.”

Kaladin. 

Here. 

STORMS

Were there more spheres in her room? There had to be. Shallan pulled hard, willing Stormlight to come out from wherever it might be hiding. She was rewarded with its blissful arrival as she hauled herself out of bed, trusting the Stormlight to ease the headache and clean her blood. 

“Brightness?” Vesi repeated, “If you’re indisposed, I can—“

“No! No,” Shallan interrupted. “I’m just...finishing some research.”

Shallan cast about for a havah to throw on, but nothing except Veil’s outfit lay discarded on a chair. 

“Very well, I’ll ask him to wait.” Vesi’s footsteps sounded on the stone before she had a chance to respond. 

What about the havah she’d worn yesterday? Where was that??

She was still wearing it. Oh. 

“Shallan, does study of one’s own room count as research?” Pattern hummed from her rumpled sheets. 

“I was lying, Pattern,” Shallan took a quick glance in the mirror. She looked like she’d gone on a bender and slept in her clothes. Which was accurate. “Do I smell bad? Can you smell?”

Pattern hummed in response to the lie. “This is an interesting question, Shallan,” he mused, rippling across the floor as she dashed from her room. “Perhaps there is a pattern to scent! But I do not know it.” 

Kaladin. He was here! _ Act normal. Act normal, _Shallan coached herself. He wouldn’t come in the front door like this unless it was official business. 

Shallan burned a little more Stormlight. She could be official. Or, at least, she knew someone who could. 


	4. Keeping Up Appearances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite Radiant's efforts, things get kind of hot in the halls of Urithirhu. Adolin takes a bath and has a think.

Kaladin | Adolin | Shallan

“Captain, good morning.”

Shallan entered the living room looking as stately as Jasnah Kholin. Kaladin felt immeasurable relief at the sight of her, and it was troubling not to find the feeling reciprocated in Shallan’s eyes. 

Shallan greeted Palona, and Kaladin caught a raised eyebrow from the mistress of the house as Shallan walked briskly past. 

“You wished to speak with me?”

The bland politeness on Shallan’s face felt like a trickle of ice water down Kaladin’s back. He understood that she was probably just keeping up appearances, but he’d also seen her and Adolin kissing last night. So maybe she was just...done with him. The fear returned that he was being played somehow, and it made Kaladin itch with frustration. 

And yet, wasn’t this good news? Wouldn’t it be easier to call everything off? Good or bad, it felt awful. 

Shallan waited blankly as Kaladin struggled to come up with a response. Storms, how had he not thought about this part?

Right. He could just be rude. He was good at that, and it was expected of him. 

“You’re needed,” Kaladin finally responded gruffly. He turned abruptly and exited the room, praying Shallan would follow. 

After a pause, he heard Shallan excuse herself and follow behind. 

******

Radiant was annoyed at the bridgeman’s lack of manners. No proper address, no disclosure of the nature of his visit, not so much as a “good morning”. But Radiant wasn’t needed anymore, so Shallan dismissed the Lightweaving the minute they exited Sebarial’s. 

“Hey! Can you slow down, please?” Shallan called. Kaladin came to a stop, turning dramatically back to face her. 

“Storming Alethis with your legs,” she muttered, tripping to catch up to the place where Kaladin stood waiting. 

“Oh, my apologies, Brightness,” Kaladin retorted, giving an impressively insincere bow. “Please dictate the pace. Clearly I have no idea what the proper speed to walk might be.”

Kaladin seemed genuinely bothered. Time to fix that. 

“Your apology is accepted, Captain,” Shallan returned the act, quickly scanning the corridor for company. She held out her freehand daintily. “You may kiss my hand as a sign of penance.”

Kaladin’s eyes darted up in surprise, and Shallan was unable to contain a smile. He straightened himself and lifted her hand to his lips. Extremely slowly. 

“What are you doing?” Shallan failed to suppress a nervous giggle as their joined hands rose through the air. The pads of Kaladin’s fingers were rough and warm, his deep brown eyes full of mischief. 

“I would hate to go too fast, Brightness,” Kaladin replied innocently. Shallan found herself deeply and irrationally jealous of her own hand as Kaladin gently, finally, pressed his lips into her skin. 

Shallan’s insides felt like a kettle near boiling. In an attempt to counteract the part of her that needed all of her clothes to be immediately off, she tried an impression of Radiant’s cool propriety.

“Apology accepted, captain.” Shallan took a deep breath to collect herself, carefully withdrawing her hand from Kaladin’s.

“Now, if you would please direct me to where I am needed, I would greatly appreciate it.”

“Actually,” Kaladin replied, “I was hoping to get your help with that. I’ve never gotten to the balcony from here, and these passageways get a little tricky.”

Balcony. _ Balcony. _

“Fine,” Shallan agreed, barely controlling the excitement she felt, “but only if you fly us there as fast as you possibly can. I’m extremely impatient to be on with it, you see.”

******

Adolin took a whole bath back in his room. Though Renarin had apparently cured the hangover that he’d worked very hard to earn, it still felt good to soak in warm water, washing away the day that had come before. Storms, it hadn’t even _ been _ a full day since he’d rushed out of Shallan’s room, and so much, so many things…

The night out with Shallan hadn’t helped, either. After that long, strange kiss on the street, they never once mentioned Kaladin, choosing instead to enjoy the evening as if nothing was wrong. Adolin was desperate for the normalcy afforded by this choice, but it wasn’t a sustainable lie. Was it? 

No, it wasn’t. For all he knew, she could be with Kaladin right now, which could be the case at any given moment. He couldn’t live that way, pretending that Shallan was his whenever she happened to be in the same room, ignoring the fact that she wasn’t his whenever they were apart. 

But. He loved her. And she loved him too. Right?

“How are we supposed to do this?” Adolin asked at his sword. He wasn’t about to summon it in the tub, but the intention was the same.

Adolin knew the normal reaction was supposed to be anger, and he _ was _angry, he just— he had no desire to call things off with Shallan. He had no desire to publicly call Kaladin out, not that that wasn’t a bad idea for a host of reasons. He just...wished that none of it had happened. At all. That he could take his Blade and carve away the parts of Shallan and Kaladin that wanted to be with each other. Neatly and surgically. Back to normal. Back to how it should be. 

But of course, he couldn’t actually do that. 

The water in the tub was getting cold, so Adolin dried off and got dressed. 

******

The ravenous joy that spread across Shallan’s face threw Kaladin’s pulse into a frenzy. There were important things to talk about, so many important things. Such as how this entanglement was making him very bad at his job and probably needed to end, for example. But storms, he had missed Shallan so much, was so scared that in the blink of an eye she had just...stopped loving him.

But. Shallan was here, and she was smiling that smile. So it was hard to remember what else could possibly be important. 

Shallan turned and walked briskly - storms, she was practically running - down the corridor to a place where the pathway split. She paused at the start of the tunnel. 

“It’s down this way.”

Kaladin put a hand at Shallan’s waist, using a little Stormlight to stick it there, just in case. He fought the impulse to bury his face in that tousled hair, devour her on the spot. 

Instead, Kaladin said, “So it’s just going to feel like falling _ that _way,” pointing directly ahead of them. “I won’t go too fast until you get used to it, but I need a couple seconds of notice if we need to make a turn. OK?”

In response, Shallan took his face in both hands, kissing him hard. Just then, Kaladin felt like he might have been able to float without any Stormlight at all. 

“Fine, whatever,” Shallan kept her face inches from his own. Her breath was surprisingly bad, but he didn’t care. “Let’s just go now, please.”

Then Kaladin’s ears were filled with the sound of Shallan yelling, because they were falling down the hallway.


	5. No Mating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pattern fulfills his duty as a chaperone. Zahel has been expecting Adolin on the practice grounds.

Shallan | Adolin

“We’re gonna fall now, get ready,” Kaladin said.

It had been an awkward and jostly trip down the hallways to the balcony, full of disorienting moments where Pattern had to help Shallan remember which way they were headed, full of opportunities to clutch harder at Kaladin, nestling her nose in the spot behind his ear. He smelled so good. So storming good.

As Kaladin cancelled the Lashing, Shallan landed flat on her back, knocking the air from her lungs. Kaladin, who had of course landed on his feet, reached down to help her up.

“Ow!” Shallan yelled in the most accusatory way she could muster.

“Sorry,” Kaladin apologized, using the opportunity to pull her into a very distracting embrace. “I guess I could have been more specific about _ how _ to get ready--” 

“I don’t care,” Shallan interrupted, launching her mouth onto Kaladin’s. She pulled all of the Stormlight from him instinctively, kissing him hard as if somehow it was a way to be closer, to get more of him into her. Shallan’s teeth clanked into his, mouth wide, tongue casting about to taste everything that lay beyond Kaladin’s lips. A surprised laugh rumbled in Kaladin’s chest as he pulled Shallan so close that her heels lifted off the ground and her toes tangled with his ankles. Shallan could feel Kaladin’s heart pounding against hers like two hands clapping.

Greedy and impatient, Shallan clumsily felt for the buttons of Kaladin’s uniform. Stupid safehand sleeve! She reached her hands around Kaladin’s neck and went to undo the buttons of her--

“NO MATING!”

Pattern’s voice was muffled on the fabric of her bodice, crushed against Kaladin. The strange vibration stopped them both in their tracks, breathless and aroused beyond all belief.

Shallan launched herself back from Kaladin in the same moment that he broke away, pacing the balcony.

“No Mating!” Pattern repeated, cheerily adding, “Shallan, was this correct?” 

“Yes, thank you, Pattern,” Shallan was panting, swallowing hard as if this would ease the mind-numbing desire that was about to lead to some regrettable decisions. She crossed to the opposite ledge of the balcony, sliding down the low wall to sit on the ground. “Thank you, I guess.”

*******

“Kholin!”

Zahel’s voice greeted Adolin as he entered the practice grounds. Before coming to meet him, the sword master finished giving a few gruff instructions to another ardent, who was training a young soldier with a spear. 

“You did the right thing coming back today,” Zahel said as he walked up beside Adolin. Adolin felt that he was meant to be offended by that statement, but he wasn’t sure why. So he changed the subject.

“You know, there’s a lot of Kholins around here,” Adolin pointed out. “You never know who’ll respond when you call out like that.”

Zahel snorted. “I always know. Better!” he called to the young man, who brought his spear up just in time to parry a hit with the ardent’s practice sword. The youth smiled bashfully, dutifully resetting his stance without looking at the swordmaster. “50 more times or until he can do it without thinking, whichever comes second.”

The ardent nodded, patiently correcting their charge’s form with firm hands. It was hard not to recall the absolute ease with which Kaladin and his spear traversed the area the day before. Thinking about the man kicked up a swirl of sensations that Adolin needed not to feel just now, and he found himself fidgeting to get rid of the feeling.

“Come on,” Zahel commanded, interrupting Adolin’s thoughts. 

“Your Stonestance yesterday was embarrassing. Let’s give it some attention.” 


	6. Tempest Within

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Syl is not interested in chaperoning whatsoever, Adolin works out.

Kaladin | Adolin

Syl trailed in front of Kaladin, her eyes wide in a look of delighted disbelief.

“Kaladin, that was AMAZING! She was all over you! That was so intense, I can’t even believe it! I thought she was trying to _ eat _ you for a second!”

The sound of his own rushing blood rang in Kaladin’s ears. He felt disoriented and utterly stupid, unable to think clearly. His legs kept him moving back and forth, as if this would help ease the very different kind of tempest within. 

“We shouldn’t have done that, right?” Kaladin called over to Shallan, collapsed in a heap against the balcony’s ledge. He had trouble looking at her, like she was too bright or something. 

“No, we shouldn’t have,” Shallan gasped back. “Good job, Pattern.”

Shallan’s spren hummed contentedly from the center of the balcony, a floating ball of twisted lines. 

“So that’s probably something we should figure out,” Shallan mused, “is how, uh, not to do that. Storms, I almost used my _ safehand... _”

“Should I just...I should just go, right?” Kaladin offered, preparing to step off the balcony before realizing that Shallan had taken all of their Stormlight. 

“No! No,” Shallan argued. “No, uh, yeah, no. You shouldn’t go. Because…oh storms.” Shallan fixed a look on him like an invitation. 

“We shouldn’t,” Kaladin repeated, still hesitating by the ledge, wishing he was saying and doing very different things. 

“Right,” Shallan hastily agreed, breaking eye contact. “OK, but don’t go, because if you go now then when will we see each other? And what did you come to talk to me about anyway? Or was there not actually anything?” 

There were two topics Kaladin came to discuss. He chose the easier one.

“I saw Adolin yesterday.” 

******

“Again,” Zahel instructed, stepping back into position as Adolin picked himself up off the ground for what could have been the fifteenth or fiftieth time. 

Taking his Blade in two hands, Adolin returned to Stonestance. 

“I don’t know why you chose this stance yesterday,” Zahel commented as he hacked repeatedly at Adolin with a short sword, holding up a long shield to parry Adolin’s single downward strike of retaliation. With the protective covering, the Blade clanged against the metal like any other sword, which always felt strange. 

“You should’ve used Windstance,” Zahel grunted as he threw Adolin off the shield, “it’s obviously the right match for the bridgeman’s fighting style. You two looked like a skyeel and a whitespine trying to dance yesterday.”

Adolin prepared to make another hit, only to be harried by a flurry of strikes from Zahel, aimed at preventing him from raising his weapon. Waiting for a lag in Zahel’s attack, Adolin swiped down quickly, knocking the sword out of Zahel’s hand. The ardent threw up his shield as Adolin rained down blows, over and over and over—-

And then he was on his back, feet kicked out from under him. Zahel had used the cover of his shield to slide a leg out and jerk Adolin off balance. 

“That was better,” the other man allowed. “Your mind is too busy though, Kholin. That will kill you one day.”

Already back on his feet, Zahel offered him a hand. Adolin dismissed his Blade, accepting the help. 

“Don’t bring your problems to the practice grounds,” Zahel cautioned. “The whole point is that there are no stakes here. But I know you know that and you’re just being foolish. Kata,” The ardent commanded, turning away from Adolin.

Zahel gestured at an ardent near the water barrel, who ran to bring Adolin a cup.


	7. A Perfect Audience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaladin recounts his day with Adolin. Adolin remembers the world around him.

Kaladin | Adolin | Shallan

“Kaladin! Why are you talking about Adolin?!” Syl’s delight slid effortlessly into exasperation. She seemed pretty angry, actually.

“Oh. Yeah, he told me about that,” Shallan recalled. “Storms, how’s your face?” She looked at him as if she hadn’t already touched every part of his face. 

“Oh, you know...I healed it,” Kaladin felt a little embarrassed stating the obvious. 

“Yeah, right, of course,” Shallan laughed awkwardly. “Oh storms, and that was here?” 

“Yeah! I still don’t know how he found it!” It felt good to voice that frustration to someone else, and the change of subject helped break the hazy feeling in his brain. “You didn’t tell him, right?”

“No! No, I would never do that!” Shallan stood for emphasis. “That’s so strange…”

“Yeah,” Kaladin agreed. He went on to explain his strange day with Shallan’s betrothed, from the not-really-a-spar, to the long walk to the balcony, to the loss of all the spheres, to his attempt at explaining things. It felt odd just to talk for that long, but Shallan was deeply invested in every word he said, a perfect audience. 

Not quite by accident, Kaladin left out the laugh he and Adolin had shared and the awkward moment that came after it. Definitely on purpose, he left out the glimpse he had caught of Shallan and Adolin kissing.

None of this seemed like the right way to start breaking up with someone, but it was still a relief to say it out loud. 

******

There was something odd about Kaladin’s recounting of the sequence of activities he had shared with Adolin the day before. It could reasonably have been more violent, more uncomfortable, more anger-inducing, but it mostly sounded puzzling. Kaladin told the story with concerned confusion, as if Adolin were a medical patient exhibiting symptoms he couldn’t quite diagnose. 

Shallan recognized the behavior he described in Adolin from their short encounter the morning before, but her night with him was something else entirely, almost like a vacation they had agreed to take from this tricky entanglement. 

Contrary to their original goal of getting home, Palona and Yoya ended up taking them all over Little Herdaz. The two women were endlessly entertained by the fact that Adolin seemed to know _ everyone _ , and that everyone _ loved _ Adolin. It was exciting being adjacent to the camaraderie her betrothed elicited everywhere they went, and it seemed to make him feel better too. Shallan had placed a Lightweaving over Adolin’s hand to make it look uninjured, and thankfully nobody pointed out that he wasn’t actually a lefty. 

They shared a sweet, sloppy, supervised kiss goodnight at the entrance to Sebarial’s, which left Shallan feeling like everything would be OK. 

And that was the last thing she could remember until Vesi knocked on her door. 

******

After a long drink, Adolin fell into a kata. His muscles knew what to do without any instructions, and after a few minutes his breath comfortably synchronized with each movement. 

As he did the exercise, Adolin observed other pairs of people sparring. He had to consciously remind himself that the ones in Bridge 4 uniforms had nothing to do with his troubles. They were just people doing their jobs. Like his brother. Storms, how were they going to tell him? 

Adolin also noticed the young soldier with the spear, who had apparently been released from his remedial lessons. He stood alone on the sidelines, quietly watching the activity on the grounds. Without stopping the exercise, Adolin caught the boy’s eye and gestured for him to come over, which he obediently did. 

“Do you have a few minutes?” Adolin tried to make it sound like a real question, which it was.

“Of course, Brightlord!” was the admirably enthusiastic response. Closer up, the youth couldn’t have been more than a month into puberty. No wonder he was so awkward with a weapon. 

“Good,” Adolin praised him. “Do you know how to do what I’m doing?”

Panic flashed across the boy’s face. 

“Uh, well Master Zahel…he’s teaching us? But I can’t do it like that yet, sir—BRIGHTlord, sir.” 

“That’s all right,” Adolin replied encouragingly. “I can talk you through it, but Zahel’s making me do this and it’s always so awkward to be out here by yourself. I’d love some company, if you have a minute?”

The look of panic remained, but the young man still nodded. He stepped up beside Adolin and haltingly joined the kata. 


	8. A Responsibility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaladin and Shallan break up. Adolin makes a friend.

Kaladin | Adolin | Shallan

At the end of his story, Kaladin paused.

“Shallan,” his voice sounded strained and careful, the way voices sound when someone is about to say something the other person doesn’t want to hear. 

“I had to go searching for one of my men—my people— last night. We found him in a bad state...firemoss...and I realized I was_ happy _ about it. Because if he was going through so much, then maybe Bridge 4 wouldn’t notice how I keep going missing to be with you. 

Kaladin gave Shallan a pleading look, eyes darting to a spot in the distance and then back again. 

“I have a responsibility to them. To Dalinar too. And the way things are right now...I’m failing them.”

Those last words were uttered quietly and painfully. 

“I can’t let them down anymore. I’m sorry.”

******

As Adolin expected, it only took a few minutes into the kata before his new friend found some ease in his movements. The boy’s mind was quick, but like most pubescent humans his body didn’t always carry out orders very well. The repetition and slow pace of the exercise gave Romy - Adolin had finally thought to ask his name - a chance to recover from awkward transitions and center himself.

Adolin supposed it was a little selfish of him to seek out someone who would accept his help in a moment when he himself was flailing, but at the same time Romy’s form was getting better each time through. So it couldn’t have been all bad. 

At the end, Romy timidly accepted Adolin’s handshake, and Adolin found himself offering to meet again in a week. 

******

“Oh,” Shallan responded. “I see.” Her eyebrows knit together in concern. 

“No!” Syl shouted for the dozenth time, zooming around him like a flying cremling. “Kaladin, you don’t have to! No!”

“Very well, then,” Shallan’s posture straightened, her eyes taking on the same formal hardness he’d seen earlier. “We must attend to our duties, of course. I admire that about you, captain. Truly.”

Shallan approached him with a few brisk steps, halting at arm’s length, and Kaladin heard a buzzing sound as her spren absorbed itself into her skirt. The midmorning sun caught Shallan’s hair and lashes where she was standing, and she glowed with a warmth that Kaladin wished he could swallow. However, the sensation was quickly replaced by the memory of her and Adolin kissing on the street, torchlight playing across their embrace. 

This was better. This was right.

Right?

Shallan took a small step closer, more hesitantly this time. 

“I would like to return the Stormlight I took from you earlier. It doesn’t seem fair to hoard it all. May I?”

Kaladin nodded, though it was excruciating to do so. Carefully and gently, he leaned down and touched his lips to Shallan’s, drawing in Stormlight. Shallan’s lips trembled as he kissed them, and when Kaladin withdrew, he realized they were both crying. 

“Don’t go, Kaladin,” Syl urged once more. “You can figure it out! It doesn’t have to be like this!” 

Kaladin made a small bow to Shallan, something he was positive he’d never done before.

“Thank you, Brightness,” his voice came out less formal than he was hoping. 

“You’re welcome, captain,” Shallan brushed the tears off her face, smiling a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I am sure I’ll see you soon.”

She turned away quickly as Kaladin stepped off the ledge of the balcony, grateful for such a long way to fall.


	9. Hey Reader!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We've Moved!

Heya! If you have enjoyed this work in any of its sections, you can now read the whole thing in one place: [Here's a link to that place.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23041639/)

There’s some minor tweaks from the originally published chapters, but you’ve basically got the gist if you’ve read everything. Thanks for reading, commenting, and kudoing, and generally being a delightful fandom to be a part of!

<3

s_i_r

**Author's Note:**

> And there’s Part 7! Thanks as always for taking time to read and sticking with the story. This is by FAR the longest thing I’ve ever written and it has been full of surprises, but I do think juicy goodies will be coming with more regularity. So, stay tuned for juicy goodies. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are read and treasured, also happy Cosmere Inktober!


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